Berlitz Japanese Phrase Book & Dictionary

5 Responses to “Berlitz Japanese Phrase Book & Dictionary”

1. Fifth Espada Jiruga Nnoitra says:

   October 30, 2010 at 11:46 pm

   It’s a bit too huge, but it can be used inside or out, and it’s nice. yes, it does smell a bit at first, but it goes away after awhile. it’s a bit loud too, but this can be worked around.
   Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
2. P. Jones says:

   October 31, 2010 at 12:27 am

   I had this book a week now and I’ve used it several times already! Very helpful!!!!
   Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
3. guyinb'ham says:

   October 31, 2010 at 1:27 am

   This was very helpful in my trip to Japan. Wish I had worked with it more than two days before the trip, though. But, I’m a language professor and am used to learning languages. This was the tenth language I’ve studied. Methodology is to teach you phrases to function as a tourist. Audio CD very helpful. I had the pronunciation incorrect in a couple of instances based upon the books phonetic rendering. So, in the axiom, “toare doko desu-ka”, the last word is not pronounced, “desu-ka” but rather “deska”…There is a very brief grammar synopsis in the middle of the book which was too brief for me. But, the book did allow me to know some basic phrases and I was easily understood when I used some of the phrases myself. So, for me, this worked, but wouldn’t for everybody.
   Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5
4. Jason says:

   October 31, 2010 at 3:47 am

   There are many useful phrases in this book. You can certainly to hold a conversation with this book at your side. But, I was expecting more, but It’s still a pretty excellent book.
   Reader’s Rating: 3 / 5
5. Kay's Husband says:

   October 31, 2010 at 6:18 am

   I lived in Japan for a couple years (1962-64) in the Yokohama area and after returning home wished to stay in contact with the limited Japanese I knew. Much like ‘Blackthorne’ in SHOGUN, I wanted something tiny, something useful, something that I could use for reference. Well on March 30, 1996, I came upon this useful small tome. No matter what use you make of it, it will certainly be helpful.

   Is it the best out there, available, I really cannot say as this is only thing I use. One tiny complaint I have, a name who has been to Japan may be looking for the Japanese expression into English, rather than English to Japanese, and it will not be establish in this guide. All look ups are keyed English-Japanese, rather than the additional way round. Guess that is why they made Japanese-English dictionaries though. Whatever, would help if a name said ‘yama’ in Japanese and you could quickly look it up to see it means ‘mountain’, or ‘hana’ meaning either ‘nose’ or ‘flower’ lacking thumbing through the book unsuccessfully.

   But with that tiny crank aside, I like this book and use it very regularly. If returning to Nippon, would not want to be lacking it.

   Semper Fi.
   Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5